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Gas
Gas is the second episode of the first season of the sitcom Bottom, it first aired on September 24th 1991 Plot The episode begins with both Richie and Eddie playing cards making a bet on things such as 4 trips to the laundrette, 1 weeks worth of washing up etc. Eddie wins the game and wins a signed photo of Sue Carpenter, a chinese burn which he gives to Richie straight away and various other things that Eddie doesn't have to do, after giving Richie the chinese burn the door bell goes at first they ignore it and go back to playing but when it goes off again Richie asks Eddie to answer it but he points out he doesn't have to answer the door for the next six years. Richie answers the door to find its the gas man, he shouts 'Hello Mr Gas Man' which he is signalling to Eddie to turn off the gas, they let the gas man in. When he begins to read the meter, Eddie tells him he doesn't want to look at it as its very boring but the gas man tells him that the ones in the street are interesting because of a complaint from someone in the street paying too much for their gas. It's eventually learnt the Richie and Eddie have an illegal gas pipe connected to next door's and they begin to try and cover their tracks up to avoid getting into trouble. The gas man notices the meter reads nought and Richie tells him they don't use gas and Eddie cracks on he doesn't know what it is. The gas man asks how they keep warm and Richie lies by saying they make love on their own to keep warm. They refuse to let the gas man go and insist he has a cup of tea and tell him their's is the best in London so the gas man obliges. Eddie is about to put the kettle on, but the gas man questions him and Eddie puts it on the floor since he explains they won't need it as they don't use gas. Eddie questions Richie how they make it and he responds by saying they use the water from the hot tap. They both laugh together about how it's funny thing to forget and Richie begins telling the gas man a story reminded by him from the gas man's trousers. When the gas man asks if they use a gas boiler to heat the water, Eddie confirms that it is but quickly says it isn't as they don't use gas and Richie says they get water from the hot tap to save wear and tear of the cold tap. The gas man then asks how they heat the water for the tea, to which Richie replies that they have the tea cold. The tea is soon made and they drink the cold tea. The gas man at first refuses, but soon drinks it all and is about to go, but in an attempt to stall him more, Richie tells him that he loves him. The annoyed gas man attempts to leave, but Richie punches him in the face and Eddie hits him with a frying pan repeatedly knocking the gas man out unconscious. Believing that the gas man is dead, the duo try to think of a way to dispose of him. Eddie suggests he is just stunned and suggests to Richie to give him the kiss of life. At first Richie refuses but eventually excepts but fails to do it right and Eddie tries to pump air into the gas man with a bike pump, but it doesn't work and instead makes him fatter and bright purple in the face. Eddie then tries to give him an electric shock to bring him back to life, but this fails as well. After that, Richie attempts to eat him but then goes over to the phone to call the local takeaway's owner Amal to see if he can sell the gas man's body to him for meat, but Amal reveals that his dog got ran over, so he's fine for meat. Richie then wonders what he and Eddie are going to do with the body, to which Eddie cracks on what body? which he has hidden under the rug that Richie falls over. Soon Eddie gets an idea that they stick him on a bus, Richie thinks its a bad idea because of the conductor will think he didn't pay his fare until Eddie explains they put him on the roof as they won't notice til they get to the depot and won't know how he had got there. A bus stops at the lights and they attempt to throw the gas man onto the roof but he soon regains consciousness, much to Eddie and Richie's surprise. Stunned, he asks what happened and Richie falsely tells him he banged his head on the frying pan Eddie was holding several times and that he tried to throw himself out the window. After sending the gas man on his way and telling him it's too late to check next door's meter, they then think of a plan to avoid getting into trouble as they have til 9:00 the next day before the gas man's shift starts again. The duo casually go round to their neighbour Mr Rottweiler who refuses to let them in as he has his girlfriend there and says if he sees them again that night he will kill them. The duo come up with a back up plan which whilst Rottweiler is asleep, they break into his flat in order to remove the illegal pipe. Eddie uses a mallet to put a hole in the wall which Rottweiler's room is on the other side where Rottweiler and his girlfriend are fast asleep. They climb through and Eddie goes into the kitchen so he can remove the pipe, but becomes distracted by the food in the fridge and eats it all instead of removing the pipe and Richie tidies up in the bedroom and seals the hole in the wall, but becomes distracted by Rottweiler's girlfriend and in an attempt to get a closer look, crawls into the bed. Eddie meanwhile goes back to removing the pipe, but gets his finger stuck in the pipe. He calls to Richie for help, just as the bed breaks. Unaware of what's going on, Rottweiler and his girlfriend start kissing each other whilst Richie slips away to meet with Eddie. As Richie approaches the kitchen, he is knocked back by an explosion. He runs into the kitchen and finds that Eddie had freed his finger and the explosion was him trying to burn off the excess gas, but unsteady caused the pipe to spew flames. The two make a break for it by escaping out the front door, but the gas man is there and is blocking their entrance so they slam the door and escape through the hole in the wall. Rottweiler is shocked at the state of his kitchen and calls for the gas board just as the gas man arrives and informs him Richie and Eddie were there, causing much rage to Rottweiler. Meanwhile Eddie and Richie have safely made it back on the other side of the wall, but Rottweiler breaks through the wall and the episode ends with Rottweiler strangling both Richie and Eddie. Cast * Rik Mayall * Ade Edmonson * Brian Glover * Mark Lambert * Gabi Valenti Notes * This episode marks the first and only appearance of Rottweiler, its also the only episode in which any of Richie and Eddies neighbours are ever seen. * This episode marks the only appearance of the gas man. * This is the first episode which an outside part of the flat can be seen. * This is the only episode in which the inside of another flat is shown, in this case its the flat belonging to Rottweiler. * Richie refers to Speedy Gonzalez in the episode when he says Who do you think i am?, Speedy Gonzalez! * Its the only episode which we see a form of public transport passing by the flat, in this case the roof top of the bus can be briefly seen passing by the window of the flat. * Rik Mayall & Brian Glover were both in An American Werewolf in London (1981) Errors * When Eddie puts the frying pan in the gas man's hand the gas man's hand is seen moving slightly even though he is supposed to be unconscious. * Its implied in the stage shows that Eddie can't read or write, in this episode he is seen writing down his version of the gas man's activities in his pocket book, he also reads what it is written on the pieces of paper whilst playing the card game at the start of the episode. * Even though Eddie puts the frying pan in the gas man's hand seconds later its back in Eddie's hands. * After trying to pump air into the gas man to bring him back to life Eddie remarks his face shouldn't be bright purple but in the next shot which shows the gas man lying down on the floor his face isn't purple. * When Richie comes over to have a look at Rottweiler and his girlfriend through the window after Eddie called him over you can see that inside the window it is clearly a stage set due to the fact their is no ceiling. * When Richie is in Mr Rottweiler's bedroom, he lifts up the duvet to have a glance at his neighbour's sleeping girlfriend. When the camera switches to his astonished face his hair is brushed much further back than it was in the immediately preceding shot. * Whilst playing cards with Richie, Eddie appears to have a wedding ring on one of his fingers on his left hand.